[…] On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “New Day,” Republican Study Committee Chair Representative Mark Walker (R-NC) stated that “the Steve Bannons of the world, those — that kind of language and rhetoric, that’s not who we are.” And that Republicans have to be willing to call out inappropriate rhetoric. […]

OK, what “inappropriate rhetoric” is he talking about? Securing our borders? Building a wall? Getting tough with China on trade? Bannon was a huge reason Trump made it to 1600 Penn. He’s been the most effective national voice for conservatism (AND Trump’s agenda) we’ve had in decades. Bannon isn’t saying anything different from Trump. By going on CNN — of all things — and making statements like that, it sounds like Mr. Walker is (1) buying into the spin that Trumpism = bigotry and (2) hanging up his shingle on the NeverTrump side of town.

MORE:

[…] Walker said, “I don’t think the bulk of Republicans are represented by Senator Jeff Flake. However, as a former pastor, I don’t shy away from…believing that tone matters. I have the great privilege of representing the largest historical black college university in the country, North Carolina A&T, who just won their national championship, I might add. That’s important to me. In fact, in two weeks, Cedric Richmond, the Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus and I are partnering together to write an op-ed on criminal justice reform, and hopefully [legislation] that comes behind that. We have to be consistent. Our tone in impacting different the cultures and communities has to be one of heartfelt, not one of judgment. And I believe that’s where Republicans have to continue to move forward.” […]

Walker sounds like he’s calling for Republicans to bring knives to a Democrat GUNFIGHT.

An op-ed? Walker will end up slapping his name on something that sounds a lot like one of those Black Caucus one-minute speeches you see late at night on C-Span. And after it is published, Richmond WILL go right back to railing against Walker and the other ‘white devils’ in the House majority.

(Pelosi & co. looooooove stuff like this. This brings a new meaning to the term ‘Nancy Boy.’ What was it Lenin said about “useful idiots”?)

The GOP had great success in 2016 running on what Trump and Bannon talk about. Why should we be moving toward the platform of the LOSERS?

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[…] When asked how, as a Southern Baptist minister, he reconciles his faith with President Trump, Walker responded that social conservatives had “legitimate” grievances with President Obama.

He continued, “Now, that doesn’t give anybody a pass, whether it’s President Trump, or anyone else. But that is something that I hope that we’ll continue to see growth there, when it comes to dealing with people, not just in our base. You know, I probably shouldn’t say this on CNN, or even out loud, but I will tell you this, the Steve Bannons of the world, those — that kind of language and rhetoric, that’s not who we are. But Republicans have to be willing to call out when there’s certain language used that’s — with undertones to our friends and neighbors of all the communities that we serve. We have to have the boldness to be willing say, ‘You know what, that’s not right. That’s not the way that we would share what it is that we believe.’ And I think ultimately, when you do that, when you have the right heart, I think people appreciate that.”

8 thoughts on “#ncpol: Mark Walker? (*SIGH*)”

Bannon’s language and tone seem to be working very well when used by local leaders there in recent European elections like in Austria, the Czech Republic, and Italy, and also scored well in Germany. Those countries are facing many of the very same key issues that we are.

Take Austria, for example. The new dynamic 31-year old leader of the traditional conservative Peoples Party, Sebatian Kurz, moved his party to the right, taking essentially the same tone and positions as the anti-immigration populist right Freedom Party. The combined totals of the vote for the two parties was nearly 59%, and the previously governing center-left Social Democrats were pushed into third place for the first time since the Habsburg era, while the farther left Green Party, which supported open borders lost all of their seats. Now Kurz leads a coalition government of the Peoples Party and Freedom Party with three main objectives – 1) end illegal immigration, 2) cut taxes, 3) reduce the power of the EU.

Walker has always been a social conservative, not a full spectrum conservative, which is why he tends to go off the reservation on issues outside the social issues. Milquetoast leadership like Walker proposes is a losing proposition.

The GOP needs real leaders like Sebastian Kurz not milquetoasts like Angela Merkel. We have one in President Trump, but we badly need similar leaders at other levels. Walker is clearly not one..

Indeed. I used to live in the 6th before my job took me elsewhere. I used to discuss Walker with other Republicans until I realized the futility of pointing out that we could do better. He’s copied the Coble model, he stays in touch with local Republicans and that’s all that matters to them. I’ve never trusted anyone from his background to be a conservative warrior once in office and he proves my point quite well.

I live in the 6th district, and get Walker’s regular “what I’ve done for you” emails. I have yet to see one that had much of anything that I or most Republicans really care about: fixing the Ovomitcare mess (real repeal), immigration (real deporting and reform), and entitlements (real repeals on many fronts). It’s all this touchy-feely stuff just like I’d be getting from some wimp-wristed Democrat.

Walker is 80% on the Conservative Review scorecard, considerably better than our two senators who are in the 30’s. His tone here is condescending toward conservatives, and that is indicative of the same sort of slide we saw with Burr, who was once up in the 80’s himself as a senator.

Boehner muscled conservatives out of control of the House Republican Study Committee a few years ago, so any chairman of it now has to be a flunky of the leadership. That is something that makes me a little leary of Walker.

We will see what he does on the DACA amnesty bill. That is the 2,000 pound gorrilla on the legislative agenda in the next few months. If he betrays us on amnesty, he cannot call himself a conservative.

“Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my Presidency. When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind. Steve was a staffer who worked for me after I had already won the nomination by defeating seventeen candidates, often described as the most talented field ever assembled in the Republican party.

Now that he is on his own, Steve is learning that winning isn’t as easy as I make it look. Steve had very little to do with our historic victory, which was delivered by the forgotten men and women of this country. Yet Steve had everything to do with the loss of a Senate seat in Alabama held for more than thirty years by Republicans. Steve doesn’t represent my base—he’s only in it for himself.

Steve pretends to be at war with the media, which he calls the opposition party, yet he spent his time at the White House leaking false information to the media to make himself seem far more important than he was. It is the only thing he does well. Steve was rarely in a one-on-one meeting with me and only pretends to have had influence to fool a few people with no access and no clue, whom he helped write phony books.

We have many great Republican members of Congress and candidates who are very supportive of the Make America Great Again agenda. Like me, they love the United States of America and are helping to finally take our country back and build it up, rather than simply seeking to burn it all down.”